Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Look Ma! No cavities!!


I took Matthew to see Dr. William Waggoner, a pediatric dentist this morning.

Matthew was a champ as usual ... and no cavities!! His back molars are coming thru.

It was very interesting .... the doctor and I sat facing each other ... our knees were touching.
Matthew had his bum on my lap and his legs around me with his head in the doctors lap.
I held his little arms down.

Matthew didn't even really fight us, he did cry though ... the doctor was able to check all of his teeth and even picked quite a bit of tartar off the front of his bottom teeth. That was probably the best look that I've ever had of Matthew's teeth. So at the dentist office, it's not such a bad thing when they are wailing with their mouth open!!

We will take him again in 6 months.

We were concerned about his teeth because he was premature and was on so many medications that first year of his life. At one point while at Stanford, he was on 19 different drugs.
His front baby tooth came in with a chip and the enamel was rough.
We have also been told that breathing treatments are bad for their teeth. Doctor said to wipe his teeth off after a treatment. He also said it was good that he has gaps between his teeth, that means he'll most likely have room for his permanent teeth and he won't get cavities beween the teeth.

He said that we will keep an eye on the 6 year molars, if the teeth are ever affected by medications it will be those. He said the chip in the front tooth could be because partly b/c he was premature and because he was intubated for 3 months.

Another wonderful doctor visit out of the way! Whew!!

4 comments:

Grandma W said...

Matthew goes to the "head of the class" once again.

Matthew's teeth are a brilliant white and not a dingy gray. I always thought the spaces between his teeth were good; but we all know I have nothing scientific to go by but experience.

I DO KNOW how important the baby teeth are to the permanent ones. Auntie Kim once knocked an upper front tooth out in first grade. We had a spacer inserted in the gap; but the gap in the bone forced the upper permanent teeth to come in out of place. Thus; braces were required to properly align her teeth.

Matthew, again, has been blessed with good genes. All those medications and tubes could have left his teeth a mess; but they didn't.

I wonder if God ever gets tired of being told how much we appreciate Him and his Blessings. I imagine He will "thump" on my head if He ever does. Once again, "God is good". To celebrate, Terri, Matthew and I went to Mimi's for eggs benedict. Life is good! Ha Ha grandma wright a.k.a uma

Wyndi said...

way to go Mathew! !

Anonymous said...

What a big brave boy!!!

Go Matthew!

Grandma W said...

This new picture just cracks me up! This is a "new" expression for our boy with a thousand expressions and precious faces.

He looks like he is wondering just "what" mommy is going to do with that big brush........ "not in my mouth, me thinks"!

In spite of the dubious look, he was a real trooper at the dentist office. He believes in being "politically correct" and always lands on his "best foot". What a guy! Gotta love him and I do. grandma wright a.k.a. uma